The Brady Bunch
---- The Brady Bunch Kids | composer = Frank De Vol | country = United States | language = English | num_seasons = 5 | num_episodes = 117 | list_episodes = List of The Brady Bunch episodes | executive_producer = Sherwood Schwartz | producer = Howard Leeds Sherwood Schwartz Lloyd Schwartz | camera = Single-camera | runtime = 25–26 minutes | company = Redwood Productions Paramount Television | distributor = CBS Television Distribution | channel = ABC | picture_format = | audio_format = Monaural | first_aired = | last_aired = | preceded_by = | followed_by = The Brady Brides A Very Brady Christmas The Bradys | related = The Brady Kids The Brady Bunch Hour }} The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that originally aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. Considered one of the last of the old-style family sitcoms, the series aired for five seasons and, after its cancellation in 1974, went into syndication in September 1975. While the series was never a critical or ratings success during its original run, it has since become a popular staple in syndication, especially among children and teenage viewers. The Brady Bunch's success in syndication ultimately led to several reunion films and spinoff series: The Brady Bunch Hour (1976–77), The Brady Girls Get Married (1981), The Brady Brides (1981), and the 1988 television reunion movie A Very Brady Christmas. That movie's success led to another spinoff series, The Bradys, which aired on CBS in 1990. In 1995, the series was adapted into a satirical comedy theatrical film titled The Brady Bunch Movie, followed by A Very Brady Sequel in 1996. A second sequel, The Brady Bunch in the White House, aired on Fox in November 2002 as a made-for-TV movie. In 1997, "Getting Davy Jones" (season 3, episode 12) was ranked No. 37 on ''TV Guide'' s 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time. Development In 1966, following the success of his TV series Gilligan's Island, Sherwood Schwartz conceived the idea for The Brady Bunch after reading in The Los Angeles Times that "30% of marriages the United States have a child or children from a previous marriage." He set to work on a pilot script called for a series tentatively titled Mine and Yours. Schwartz then developed the script to include three children for each parent. While Mike Brady is depicted as being a widower, Schwartz originally wanted the character of Carol Brady to have been a divorcée but the network objected to this. A compromise was reached whereby Carol's marital past was left open (not made clear whether she was divorced or widowed). Schwartz shopped the series to the "big three" television networks of the era. ABC, CBS, and NBC all liked the script, but each network wanted changes before they would commit to filming and Schwartz shelved the project.The Biography Channel Documentary titled "The Brady Bunch", retrieved on June 16, 2008. Although there are similarities between the series and two 1968 theatrical release films, United Artists' Yours, Mine and Ours (starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball) and CBS's With Six You Get Eggroll (starring Brian Keith and Doris Day), the original script for The Brady Bunch predated the scripts for both of these films. Nonetheless, the outstanding success of the United Artists film (the 11th highest grossing film of 1968) was a factor in ABC's decision to order episodes for the series. After receiving a commitment for 13 weeks of television shows from ABC in 1968, Schwartz hired film and television director John Rich to direct the pilot, cast the six children from 264 interviews during that summer, and hired the actors to play the mother role (whose maiden name was Tyler and first married name was Martin), the father role, and the housekeeper role. As the sets were built on Paramount Television stages 2 and 3, the production crew prepared the backyard of a home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, as the Tyler home's exterior location to shoot the chaotic backyard wedding scene. Filming of the pilot began on Friday, October 4, 1968, and lasted eight days. Premise Mike Brady (Robert Reed), a widowed architect with three sons, Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight), and Bobby (Mike Lookinland), marries Carol Ann Martin (née Tyler) (Florence Henderson), who herself has three daughters: Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb), and Cindy (Susan Olsen). The wife and daughters take the Brady surname. Included in the blended family are Mike's live-in housekeeper, Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis), and the boys' dog, Tiger. The setting is a large, suburban, two-story house designed by Mike, in a Los Angeles, California suburb. In the first season, awkward adjustments, accommodations, and resentments inherent in blended families dominate the stories. In an early episode, Carol tells Bobby that the only "steps" in their household lead to the second floor (in other words, that the family contains no "stepchildren," only "children"). Thereafter, the episodes focus on typical pre-teen and teenage adjustments such as sibling rivalry, puppy love, self-image, character building, and responsibility. References External links * * The Brady Bunch Shrine (fan site) * Bradyworld.com (fan site) *"The Brady Bunch Cast: Where are they now?" - ABC News, 2010 (includes some editorial errors) Category:1969 American television series debuts Category:1974 American television series endings Category:1960s American television series Category:1970s American television series Category:American Broadcasting Company network shows Category:American television sitcoms Category:The Brady Bunch Category:English-language television programming Category:Fictional families Category:Television series about families Category:Television series by CBS Paramount Television Category:Television shows set in Los Angeles, California